Unleash Your Genius!

Unleash Your Genius!

Browse Quick Guides by Subject

Festive Foods for Cinco de Mayo
Share this with your friends

No Cinco de Mayo party would be complete without food! Here are some delicious, easy recipes you can whip up for your fiesta.

Chili con Queso (Mexican Beef and Chili Dip)

  1. Heat olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, and ground beef. Cook, breaking up lumps with a fork, for 3-5 minutes or until beef is brown and no pink remains. Add tomatoes and green chiles, cook for an additional 3 minutes. Transfer everything to the slow cooker.
  2. Add cream, Monterey Jack cheese, and cheddar cheese, and stir well. Cook for 1 ½ to 2 hours on high (or 3-4 hours on low) or until cheese is bubbly.
  3. If cooking on low, raise the heat to high. Combine water and cornstarch in a small bowl and stir to dissolve. Stir mixture into the slow cooker. Cook for an additional 15-20 minutes until bubbly and cheese thickens. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with tortilla chips, plantain chips, crostini, pita crisps, or crudite.

Variation: For a zestier dip, use chorizo or linguica sausage instead of ground beef. Or use ground turkey to cut back on saturated fat.

From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Slow Cooker Cooking, Second Edition, by Ellen Brown

Easy Guacamole

Place avocado, sour cream, chiles, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and hot pepper sauce in a food processor and whirl it for 10 seconds or until everything is combined but the dip is not totally smooth, or mash it well with a fork or potato masher. Scrape the guacamole into a serving bowl, stir in diced tomatoes, and serve with tortilla chips.

From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Cooking—for Guys by tod Dimmick

Salsa Verde

  1. Place tomatillos, onion, and enough water to cover them in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 10 to 12 minutes or until tomatillos are tender. Remove from the heat. Drain but reserve cooking liquid.
  2. Transfer tomatillo mixture to a food processor fitted with an S blade. Add garlic cloves, and coarsely chop for 1 minute. Add cilantro, green onions, jalapeño peppers, lime juice, and oregano, and pulse several times or until as smooth or chunky as desired. (If you prefer a thinner version, add some reserved cooking liquid.)
  3. Taste and season with salt and black pepper. Serve with tortilla chips or use as a sauce for black beans, tacos, burritos, or other Mexican dishes. Store salsa in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Variation: For extra flavor, roast the tomatillos, onion, and 2 whole jalapeño peppers on an oiled large cookie sheet at 425 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until soft and lightly browned around the edges.

From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Vegan Cooking by Beverly Lynn Bennett and Ray Sammartano

Beef and Cheese Burritos

  1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, heat corn oil. Add onion, and cook for about 5 minutes or until softened and translucent.
  2. Mix in rice. Cook, stirring often, for about 3 minutes or until rice begins to brown. Stir in vegetable stock and salsa. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes or until liquid has been absorbed.
  3. Center 1 tortilla on a piece of waxed paper, parchment paper, or freezer paper. Leaving about a 1-inch margin on the bottom, layer a line of ingredients down the center: ¼ cup black beans, ¼ cup rice, and ¼ cup shredded Jack cheese. Fold up bottom of burrito, fold one side over the other, and roll tightly.

Variations: This recipe is easy to customize. Add additional protein with cooked diced chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, fish, or tofu. Chopped grilled vegetables like onions, peppers, mushrooms, and squash make tasty and healthful additions.

From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Easy Freezer Meals by Cheri Sicard

Chicken Quesadillas

Mix chicken and onion flakes with chili powder in a bowl. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place 1 tortilla in the skillet and spread a layer of cheese, then chicken mixture, then another layer of cheese. top with another tortilla. Heat for about 1 minute, then carefully flip the quesadilla with a spatula and cook for another minute, just until the cheese melts. Move quesadilla to a serving plate and cook the next one.

to serve, cut into wedges and top with a spoonful of sour cream and salsa.

Variation: Sauté 1 medium onion cut into ½-inch pieces or any of your favorite vegetables in the skillet before you make the quesadillas. Scoop the onion or vegetables out onto a plate and follow the recipe from the point of adding a tortilla (add the onion/vegetables along with the chicken).

From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Cooking—for Guys by tod Dimmick

Mexican Chocolate Fondue

  1. toast almonds in a 350-degree oven for 5 to 7 minutes or until lightly browned. Chop and set aside.
  2. Combine cream, chocolate, and cinnamon in a heavy 1-quart saucepan. Stir over very low heat to melt chocolate. When mixture is smooth and chocolate is melted, stir in almonds, amaretto, and almond extract. (You can do this up to four hours ahead. Reheat over very low heat or in a microwave.)
  3. Transfer fondue to a fondue pot or other pot with a heat source, and serve with hulled strawberries, waffle squares, butter cookies, angel food cake cubes, spice cake cubes, brownie cubes, biscotti, or sugar cookies.

From The Complete Idiot’s Guide for Cooking for Two by Ellen Brown

With these fantastic recipes you are guaranteed to have a delicious and festive Cinco de Mayo! For some wickedly wonderful drinks, be sure to check out our quick guide Festive Drinks for Cinco de Mayo. Enjoy!